“Here’s the headline, folks

 “Here’s the headline, folks

: Hard work pays off. When we apply fiscal discipline, invest in ourselves and our people and our places, and we put ourselves on stable financial footing, that’s when the magic happens,” Lightfoot said. “Because we can afford to make those investments that are necessary to uplift our young people, solve the social ills that have plagued us for way too long, and keep our economy going. But it starts with getting our fiscal house in order, and I’m here today to tell you that’s exactly what we have done.”

Though the city has made real strides to shore up its finances under Lightfoot, its fiscal health remains precarious. Her 2023 budget forecast projects a roughly $475 million deficit in 2024 and $550 million the following year.

While the city continues to emerge from the pandemic, its economic impact on tourism, conventions, the CTA and downtown lingers in vacant storefronts and unreliable and often dirty trains. Massive pension payments remain a continued stress on city taxpayers. Federal funds to deal with the coronavirus are already allocated.